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While Metro Parks officials say they want to study whether there is danger in the parks before
allowing rangers to carry firearms, rangers say the parks board is stalling amid growing safety
threats.

Yesterday, Columbus and Bexley police responded to a call that several people had been beaten
and robbed along the Alum Creek trail, according to Metro Parks Executive Director John
O'Meara.

Tracy Rader, a staff representative with the Fraternal Order of Police, Ohio Labor Council,
which represents about 20 rangers, said that is one more incident that shows that rangers need
guns.

“Crime does happen in the parks,” Rader said.

The Metro Parks board meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the subject and consider a proposal
to hire a consultant to perform a safety assessment.

Jim McGregor, one of three park commissioners, said the proposal is not a stall tactic and
that a decision on arming rangers needs to be made as quickly as possible.

“The board doesn’t need to meditate on this,” McGregor said.

In January, Rader repeated a request rangers made in 2011 to carry firearms as their
counterparts do in the state parks and other metropolitan park systems statewide.

During that meeting, Rader said the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut
in December brought the issue to the forefront.

During the February Metro Parks meeting, members said they were willing to study the idea.
And on Tuesday, they will discuss a resolution to develop a scope of services for a risk assessment
consultant and request proposals from firms.

A recommendation would be made to the board at its May 14 meeting.

The resolution says the consultant must consider the capabilities of outside law enforcement
agencies that can assist. The consultant also must include a detailed cost estimate to implement
any changes and take into consideration the system’s fiscal constraints.

“I don’t want to spend too much money on this,” McGregor said.

Any plan must “preserve the identity of Metro Parks as a park and natural resource management
agency and be consistent with our mission statement,” the resolution said.

O’Meara has opposed arming rangers. He said their focus should be customer service.

But the rangers argue that because state law allows park visitors to carry firearms, they,
too, should be able to arm themselves.

The Friends of Metro Parks, a nonprofit, volunteer group that supports the parks, has not
taken an official stance on the gun issue.

“I feel a lot of people are back and forth on this issue,” said Debra Knapke, a founding
director. “I want the rangers to be safe. I want the visitors to be safe. But I don’t want
accidents.”